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Review
. 2018 Sep 24;7(10):149.
doi: 10.3390/cells7100149.

Autophagy in Metabolic Age-Related Human Diseases

Manon Moulis  1 , Cecile Vindis  2
Affiliations
Review

Autophagy in Metabolic Age-Related Human Diseases

Manon Moulis et al. Cells. .

Abstract

Autophagy is a highly conserved homeostatic cellular mechanism that mediates the degradation of damaged organelles, protein aggregates, and invading pathogens through a lysosome-dependent pathway. Over the last few years, specific functions of autophagy have been discovered in many tissues and organs; however, abnormal upregulation or downregulation of autophagy has been depicted as an attribute of a variety of pathologic conditions. In this review, we will describe the current knowledge on the role of autophagy, from its regulation to its physiological influence, in metabolic age-related disorders. Finally, we propose to discuss the therapeutic potential of pharmacological and nutritional modulators of autophagy to treat metabolic diseases.

Keywords: atherosclerosis; autophagy; diabetes; liver diseases; metabolism; obesity; pharmacological modulators.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Autophagy in metabolic-age related diseases. Metabolic age-related stress triggers metabolic syndrome, characterized by obesity or metabolic complications, including atherosclerosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and diabetes mellitus. In all these pathologies, alterations in the autophagic process seem to play a crucial role in disease onset and progression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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